Boating Filter

Restored oyster reefs are monitored to ensure the oysters that grow there are thriving. Photo: Oyster Recovery Partnership.

Celebrating Oysters During Oyster Week

10/21/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Oysters are great multitaskers! They provide many benefits to the ecosystem they live in. They are filter feeders—they clean the water as they eat. And they grow in reefs, which provide great habitat for many other species. But in many places, their population has plummeted. So we… SEE MORE

A snow-Tanner hybrid crab collected during the 2026 eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey. Hybrid crab exhibit intermediate morphological traits—such as a curved mouth—relative to snow and Tanner crab parent species. Credit: NOAA Fisheries / Leah Zacher

Marine Heatwave Triggered a Hybrid Crab Surge in the Bering Sea

10/21/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. A team of scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Kodiak Laboratory has uncovered an unexpected ecological aftermath following the major 2018–2019 Bering Sea marine heatwave. The results, published in a new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study, show the abundance of snow-Tanner crab hybrids increased by more… SEE MORE

Archival photo of New England swordfishing vessel (left) courtesy of NOAA Fisheries; Background photo and photo offloading fish (right) courtesy of Hawaii Longline Association/Eric Kingma

Highly Migratory Species Management: Managing Shared Resources at Home and Around the World

10/16/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Highly migratory species—like Atlantic yellowfin tuna, Pacific albacore, and Atlantic swordfish—travel thousands of miles across state, national, and international boundaries throughout their lives. These important commercial and recreational fisheries support seafood businesses and coastal communities across the United States. But highly migratory fish don’t recognize state or national borders, so… SEE MORE

A freediver from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project works to carefully remove a ghost net from the reef at Kamokuokamohoali‘i (Maro Reef) in Hawaii. (Image credit: Andrew Sullivan-Hawkins/Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (Under permit # PMNM-2024-003))

Large-scale Marine Debris: 4 Ways to Clean up the Big Stuff

10/12/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Marine debris is a challenging problem. Across the country, NOAA and partners remove everything from lost fishing gear tangled on the seafloor to sunken vessels, abandoned tire reefs, and other trash that have become hazards to navigation and marine ecosystems in the ocean and Great Lakes. Beginning in… SEE MORE

Map showing sea surface height anomalies using Darker reds to show sea levels higher than normal, while darker blues show heights below normal

Kelvin Waves, Explained

10/11/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. You may be hearing a lot about Kelvin waves in the news. What are Kelvin waves, and how are they related to El Niño? We asked oceanographer Michael Jacox, from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory, to explain the phenomenon. What is a Kelvin wave and… SEE MORE

Southern Resident killer whales swim just off Seattle’s shore. NOAA experts anticipate that the West Coast and the Pacific Islands will feel the effects of the 2026–2027 El Niño event most directly. Credit: NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center; taken under NOAA permit #781-1824

How Will El Niño Affect Your Local Fisheries?

10/10/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. What does El Niño mean for U.S. fisheries and marine life? What can fishermen and coastal communities expect to observe and experience as this event continues and potentially intensifies? And what are scientists at NOAA Fisheries doing to track this natural phenomenon? The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a powerful… SEE MORE

NOAA Fisheries and Sea Quester Farms partnered up to evaluate if kelp farms provide habitat for marine life in Alaska. Pictured here is one of Sea Quester’s farms in southeast Alaska near Juneau. Credit: Hatch Blue, Alaska Mariculture Cluster

Kelp Farms and Marine Life Co-Exist in Southeast Alaska

10/3/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Marine aquaculture, or mariculture, provides economic opportunities for coastal communities in Alaska through farming shellfish and seaweed. NOAA Fisheries continues to support Alaska’s growing aquaculture industry through policy and permitting—providing access to resources and research. A recent study highlights one of our newest aquaculture research collaborations. Through this… SEE MORE